The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

‘Nothing special as far as the writing’s concerned. Standard laser printer.’
Harry waited. He knew Holm had something.
‘What’s special is the paper he used. No one at the lab here has seen this type before, that’s why it’s
taken a bit of time. It’s made with mitsumata, Japanese papyrus-like bast fibres. You can probably
tell mitsumata by the smell. They use the bark to make the paper by hand and this particular sheet is
extremely exclusive. It’s called Kono.’
‘Kono?’
‘You have to go to specialist shops to buy it, the sort of place that sells fountain pens for ten
thousand kroner, fine inks and leather-bound notebooks. You know ’
‘I don’t, in fact.’
‘Me neither,’ Holm conceded. ‘But anyway, there is one shop in Gamle Drammensveien which
sells Kono writing paper. I spoke to them and was told they rarely sold such things now, so it was
unlikely they would reorder. People don’t have a sense of quality the way they used to, he
reckoned.’
‘Does that mean ?’
‘Yes, I’m afraid that means he couldn’t remember when he last sold any Kono paper.’
‘Mm. And this is the only dealer?’
‘Yes,’ Holm said. ‘There was one in Bergen, but they stopped selling a few years ago.’
Holm waited for an answer – or, to be more precise, questions – as Dwight Yoakam, at low volume,
yodelled the love of his life into her grave. But none came.
‘Harry?’
‘Yes. I’m thinking.’
‘Excellent!’ said Holm.
It was this slow inland humour that could make Harry chuckle long afterwards, and even then
without knowing why. But not at this moment. Harry cleared his throat.
‘I think it’s very odd that paper like this would be put into the hands of a murder investigator if you
didn’t want it to be traced back to you. You don’t need to have seen many crime shows to know that
we would check.’
‘Perhaps he didn’t know it was rare?’ Holm suggested. ‘Perhaps he hadn’t bought it?’
‘Of course that’s a possibility, but something tells me that the Snowman wouldn’t slip up like that.’
‘But he has done.’